A Hero
by John Silver fan
Summary: When a small town is threatened a hero will rise up to challenge to evil.
1. Chapter 1

No one noticed him. He hardly stood out anyway. A dark cloak was drapped over him, the hood up, and his head was down a little, whether it was to keep his face dry or keep his face hiddened wasn't a question that crossed anyone's mind. They knew his race, they knew it just by looking at him, for his features were easily seen.

They had no fear of the cloaked stranger, nor did he have any fear of them, for like them, he just wanted to get out of the rain.

Some children ran about, laughing and playing in the mud.

The stranger stopped for a moment to watch a group of younger kids playing. They were playing catch, and the ball rolled out into the rode.

A little girl went after it. Just as she picked it up she heard something, looked up the hill, and gasped in fear.

The stranger looked where she was looking to see a large wagon rolling down the hill towards the girl, picking up speed quickly. Without a second thought he ran towards the girl, leaped forward, sailed just over her head, carefully grabbing her and pulling her with him, covered her with his arm, rolled when he landed, and was just barely missed by the wagon.

Terrified, the girl clung to her rescuer, trembling.

"It's all right. You're safe." he said gently.

He put her down and started to walk away.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

He stopped and turned back around.

"What?"

"Thank you."

He paused for a moment.

"You're welcome."

After he was gone the girl recalled the feeling of his hands grabbing her and pulling her out of the way of the wagon. They had felt so different from any pair of hands she had known.

The next day she was out playing in the front yard of her parents' house when she heard footsteps. She turned to see the stranger from the day before.

She smiled, put down her toys, and ran towards him.

The stranger obviously heard her, for he turned around to face her.

"Hi!" she said when she reached him.

"Hello again."

"I'm Katy. What's your name?"

The stranger hesitated.

"It's best you don't know my name."

Though she was confused, Katy decided not to argue.

_He's very mysterious but nice, he did save me after all._

"Why don't you take the cloak off?"

"If I did someone might recognize me, and it's best if my true identity isn't known."

"Are you some kind of hero?"

The stranger laughed.

"No. Not at all. I'm defienitely _not_ a hero."

"Oh." Katy said, a little disappointed.

"Hey, mabey we can talk again some other time."

Katy perked up.

"Yeah!"

The stranger chuckled.

"See ya around, Katy." he said as he left.

Through another conversation later that day it was agreed that the stranger would come at night after Katy had gone to bed, and he did.

They had several conversations in the nights that followed, but none of them gave Katy a single clue as who her rescuer was. Finally she knew she had to ask him again.

After he came in through her window, which was only a few feet off the ground, Katy knew she had to ask him now or she never would.

"Who are you?"

The stranger turned to her.

"No one can know who I really am."

Katy was disappointed.

"That's why you need to keep it a secret."

She looked at him in surprise.

For the first time since her rescue, the stranger moved his hand. He reached up and pulled the hood of his cloak down.


	2. Chapter 2

Katy was stunned by what she saw. She recognized his race, but he was different from any she had seen before. His eyes held sorrow and suffering. She thought of them almost as sad emeralds. Then Katy noticed something, though his face and body were that of a young man in his early or mid-twenties his eyes were those of an old man who's seen and experienced many horrors. She would never forget those eyes.

"My name is John Silver. I've been running from my father, Jonas Silver, who seeks to kill me."

Katy gasped.

"Why would he want to kill his own son?"

John shrugged.

"Last I heard he was on this planet searching for me. That's why I don't want anyone to know who I am, for is Jonas should ask someone if they known someone by the name of John Silver, they'll probably tell him where he can find me."

There was a brief pause.

"I wear this dark cloak and dark clothes so I can pull back into the shadows of an alley should Jonas ever turn up here. If he found me, there's no doubt he'll kill me."

That was the last time Katy saw him.

Now, twenty-seven years later, Katy sat when her husband on their front steps watching their eight year old daughter and some of her friends playing. They lived in the very house Katy had lived in when she had met John.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Katy saw a familar flash of black. She looked over without turning her head but saw nothing.

That night she couldn't sleep so she got up, quietly got dressed, and went outside for some fresh air.

"You've changed." said a voice behind her.

She spun around but saw no one.

"Who's there?"

A large figure then stepped from the shadows in a large black cloak.

"Who are you?"

The person chuckled.

"An old friend from your childhood."

Daring to hope, Katy said, "John?"

John reached up with his left hand, undid the front of his cloak, and pulled it off.

Katy gasped in shock.

He wasn't the young man she had known. Before her stood an old cyborg.

"What happened to you?"

"An accident, it's best not to go into details."

Silver slowly looked her up and down, taking in every inch of her, and smiled.

"From a cute little girl into a beautiful young woman."

Katy blushed, and Silver chuckled.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Your eyes are the same as they where all those years ago, kind, gentle, innocent, and compassionate."

Katy smiled.

"I wore this cloak, obviously not the one I had when we first met, so you wouldn't see these cyborg part o' mine at first and for old times' sake."

He put the cloak back on but left the hood down.

"You're dressed like a spacer, and you talk like a pirate."

Silver smiled.

"That's 'cause I am one."

He took of his tricorn and bowed.

"Captain John Silver at your service, milady."

Katy giggled and, playing along, curtesied.

"A pleasure, Captain Silver."

Silver chuckled as he straightned and put his tricorn back on.


End file.
